Our BIG Garden - Tear Down

The time has arrived to begin disassembling the garden in preparation for Winter. This is rather a bittersweet time as it signals the end of the growing season; the last of longer, lighter days and the finish of backyard BBQ's.

For some folks the advent of Fall and Winter is very bleak and discomforting. Many become despondent and even inconsolable but those are feelings I cannot fathom. The brilliant azure sky, flame colored leaves and white billowy clouds make for a stunning picture alone. Now couple that with the clear, crisp air and cooler temperatures and it becomes evident that my spirit has lifted to heavenly heights.

The aromas wafting from a soup pot warming on the stove and the sight of a crackling wood fire lit in a cozy room elicits a comforting joy not found during the humid, summer months. At long last it is acceptable to shut your door at 5pm when darkness arrives. Essentially it is now permissible to relax by the fire and enjoy a great book or sip wine with friends. We can now indulge ourselves in life's sweetest, greatest pleasures.

My excitement is elevated during this time of year to overflowing and I pine to console others with my appetite for the season. As I have repeated numerous times in the past, the four seasons we experience is truly a gift. About the time the chill of Winter is all you can tolerate, a glance in the dormant garden will show some plants waking up under the cover of mulch, looking out as if to be inquiring whether it is safe to come out yet. And then before you realize it - Spring has sprung!!

REAL ESTATE - Long Term Investing

Last week I sold my boat and delivered it to the new owner in Winchester. Conveniently for me, my daughter and her family live nearby so I arranged to meet them for lunch and spend some quality time with my sweet little granddaughter. Over our lunch, my daughter asked if I got a good price for the boat and I told her that I have owned 5 of them and made a profit on every one. She was amazed but I told her that the secret is in the timing. I always buy a boat in winter and sell it in the summer and this method has worked for 13 years.



This same plan also works for real estate, buy when the market is down and sell when prices rise. Today's market is probably the best buying opportunity since The Great Depression and the bold investors in that market made fortunes. The truth is that our area is growing and sooner or later, that growth translates to housing demands which will raise prices. We have tried to make wise purchases of rental property and hold on to it until we need to cash in our chips for some other objective but, over the long term, values keep rising.



For 35 years, we have bought, sold and rented property and the income from those ventures will help us through our golden years. For that same 35 years, we have invested in stocks and funds. Over that span of time, we gave our money to 5 different brokers and they all lost money, our money. So you can understand why I have become one of those geezers who tell young folks to buy real estate and hold on, because it is the best investment of all.



Jim

Our BIG Garden

This has been an incredibly hot, dry summer with June posing our biggest danger for our growing season due to the drought. Just about the time our infantile plants were beginning to mature the heavens closed shop for the month as if to say "Only the strong survive."

Now I profess that saying wholeheartedly especially when it comes to my over zealous gardening abilities or lack thereof. At the first signs of Spring, Carolyn and I are enthusiastic in tilling the soil, laying off rows and sowing our seeds. Even QGG rises to the occasion and feigns excitement at the opportunity to break in her new garden gloves. The thoughts of dirt actually mussing her gloves however is secretly horrifying to her. She doesn't fool us though as Carolyn and I realized last year that she was an actress in her other life and a darn good one we now know!!!

As foretold every year, June gave way to July and then July defected to August and we did harvest some amazing veggies even if the quantity was diminished. We ate Poona Kheera cucumbers from India; Tonda DiParigi carrots, a 19th century Parisian heirloom; Crapaudine beets, thought to be one of the oldest varieties dating back 1,000 years; Dragon Tongue beans, a Dutch heirloom and Kamo Kamo squash, an heirloom pumpkin of the Maori people of New Zealand. Of course I have only named a few varieties of veggies. Remember the name of our garden, "The BIG Garden" so I cannot possibly recite the entire list of seeds stashed in that plot of soil.

I think it is fair to say we admired our work so much so that we were never disappointed with our produce. We were able to snatch enough from the rabbits to feed us and share with others. In fact the garden crew is beginning to feel like a green bean about now due to the heavy production. So life as a farmer turned out fairly well, or it did until about the first of August.

If you recall QCC was never any good at getting her hands dirty or at sweating so she only ate the produce that was delivered to her door or that I cooked and served her. What a Katherine Hepburn!!

Now Carolyn is a different story. She launched into this project with great passion even desiring to locate another vacant lot whereby we could plant more than our 26 kinds of seeds and not only will she sweat and get her hands dirty - she will get everything dirty. I filled with great angst at this zeal because I know Carolyn and could foresee the future. My uneasiness was heightened when my dependable sister jumped ship with the garden this year. She could also see into the future and thus acted with some intelligence. Oh woe is me, I was now in serious

trouble and still I allowed it to happen. I might liken it to a deer in the headlights scene.

(Now we have moved into the future....) and Carolyn, true to form has behaved like a hummingbird, flying from place to place and landing nowhere. She actually would say to me, "I can't come to the garden tonight because I am going out to dinner with so and so" or "I can't come to the garden tonight because I am getting a massage." Can you just imagine the dumbfounded look on my face while my eyes were rolling back into where my brain use to reside and I would shake violently. Once speech was possible again my retort was, "Well I could go to dinner or get a massage too if I DIDN'T have to work in the garden tonight." Need I say more. Then in August the real shoe dropped as Carolyn injured her knee and became disabled so she tells me, at least for gardening duty. As a result, I can be found in our BIG garden, stooped over, a lone soldier, harvesting in 90+ degree weather. After which I trim, wash and prepare the produce only to deliver them (and eggs I might add) in the wee hours of the morning at the doors of QGG and Carolyn.

Can I tell you "I am OVER this garden." Truth be known I have cut a hole in the fence in hopes I can entice the rabbits back in. In fact I am searching the internet now looking for garden eating bugs and bores because "I AM OVER THIS GARDEN!!!". Do you hear what I am saying garden (non) helpers??

The 5 and Dime - Yet another BBQ

A young Army soldier home from the war, a microbiologist, a truck driver, a mother, an Espiscopal Priest, a physician, an insurance agent and the roster continues. Far-reaching in vocations within this one gathering, offering a gamut of incongruities.

Hailing from Missouri, Maryland and just over the county line depicts only a minor portion of the eclectic group who attended the August 2010 BBQ.

With June weather in August; a slightly, waning moon; gentle, subdued breezes and the soft, flickering of lightning bugs, we converged to share a meal, meet new friends and greet old ones.

Unlike the vocations and locations, the variety of instruments was reduced comprising only 2 banjos, 1 fiddle, 2 guitars and a bass and all of a sudden the diversity was lessened.

Steve and Mark were our grill masters, determining the effectiveness of a remarkable smoker that Mark had constructed. In tow, from Missouri to Virignia, he and his wife, Christine delivered this outstanding gift to Steve. The meat was succulent, the group was complete and the night flat-out gorgeous.

Oldfriends; Steve and Mark, new friends; Christine and me, feelings spoken and those unspoken, in retrospect it appeared a common thread weaves us all together. I proclaim it is conceivable that amongst the myriad of differences we all succumb to the same end - love and acceptance and at long last the chasm exists no longer!!!

REAL ESTATE - Love, Hate Relationship

Some ancient philosopher said that love and hate are 2 sides of the same coin. That is what I think about each year at this time as the college kids return to their seasonal party grounds.

I am usually reminded of their return on Freshman move in day when I am stuck in traffic on Reservoir Street and get cut off at the light by a Lexus with Jersey plates. Another indicator is the growing amount of trash along the street at our office. Beer cans, pizza boxes and fast food bags appear each morning and we know classes have begun when the red plastic cups start sprouting in our yard. My anger usually peaks when we lose a cluster of mailboxes or I have to confront some punk to explain that I do not maintain the yard so his pitbull has a place to poop.

My anger doesn't last long as I soon realize that this migration will go on whether I like it or not and my personal suffering is a small price to pay for the benefits of JMU. There is a positive side to life with 19,000 extra residents and all of the other things that JMU brings to the community and it starts with economics. Besides a 395 million dollar budget to run the school, the financial impact from students, faculty and staff floats our local economy. They buy homes, rent apartments, shop in our stores and work alongside all of us in community service projects. Harrisonburg would be a mighty dull place were it not for the money and energy from JMU. Maybe the next time I get cut off by the Jersey Lexus, I will just smile.

Jim

The 5 and Dime - Keezletown Cannery

Please be certain to read "The 5 and Dime" dated 8/18/2010, 1940's Farming, before this one.

(A sister showing off her Grand Titons and one to spare!)

On August 17, 2010 at 8:30 am four of us headed to the Keezletown Community Cannery to can 5 bushels of tomatoes. Under normal circumstances this would be a daunting task, taking untold hours if prepared in our home kitchens. I ask you to only imagine the amount of tomato seeds, skins and juice that would be concealing the floor by the end of the day? I literally get the nervous tremors at the thought. I have to admit it makes me want to just sew that bomb in my underwear thing . . . . some of you remember the underwear bomber right!

Few people seem to know about our local cannery and that is an immense loss for them. Although home canning has been losing favor through the years it is slowly coming back into vogue with many families choosing to buy local foods then store them up for the winter. Recognizing the call, we four sisters excitedly headed out to process our local tomatoes for the fifth year.

(The shorter, dark haired girl in this pix is not a sister but a magazine writer. The other sister would be me and I am taking the pixs.)

I could go on for pages explaining to you the speed in which a project like this can go due to the aid of massive cook pots, pressure cookers the size of which could preserve a human being and steam tables equally large but you can't fathom the camaraderie and accomplishment gained if you never tried. No canning experience is necessary as Trudy and RT Hammer, the cannery operators are consistanly by your side making certain you do things right to stay safe and be successful. Also they are the only ones allowed to operate the more risky equipment. (Thank goodness for that blessing.)

Be prepared to have a day you will always remember. A day of meeting and working with new neighbors and feeling a complete sense of accomplishment when you cast a view over those colorful jars of food just waiting to be enjoyed during the cold winter days.

Hey and you know what else? After our day of working together, sharing lunch with fellow

canners, eating gingersnaps and reading magazines we arrived home at 3pm (to our clean kitchens)

with 76 quarts of pure gold!!!

(This is just some of the stash - the others jars were still in the cooker at pix time.)

BTW, you will never guess who stopped by for 10 minutes (not to get her hands dirty nor to stay too long due to the sweltering heat) none other than.........QGG!! We suppose she is expecting at least half of the production from this day of work.

The 5 and Dime - 1940's

1940's style Farming!

As part of the war effort during WWII, the government rationed a great many foods.
Because of transportation and labor shortages getting fruits and vegetables to market became impossible. To address this problem the government called on the citizens of this country to plant "Victory Gardens". This meant they would supply their own produce and consequently make their rations go further.

Gardens were planted everywhere; backyards, empty lots and even roof tops. Neighbors worked together, pooling money and resources and formed cooperatives in the name of patriotism.

It has been estimated that more than 20 million victory gardens were planted. In 1943 there was an estimate of 315,000 pressure cookers sold compared to 66,000 in 1942. (C. Reinhard, the Ganzel Group)

At the end of the war came the end of the government promotion of victory gardens but it was during this time of need when the Keezletown Community Cannery (KCC) began. In 1942 it started in the basement of the Keezletown School and like many other public canneries during that era, was supported partially by the school system.

KCC is one of a handful of non-profit, can your own, facilities in Virginia. Due to budget cuts Rockingham County no longer supports the cannery. The Horizons Learning Foundation is fervently working to continue the operation of one of the oldest canneries in the U.S.

Please help support this endeavor because our community would sorely miss such a valuable piece of history. Also check out my next 5 and Dime to read about our
latest adventure at the cannery, hopefully you will glean a bit of understanding as to the importance of this historical place.